International Isotopes Inc. is pleased to announce that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) has issued a Part 40 combined construction and operating license for the Company’s planned depleted uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility. The license was signed and issued to the Company during a brief ceremony at NRC offices in Bethesda,Maryland on October 2, 2012.
The Company originally submitted its license application to the NRC in December 2009, and the NRC had been reviewing the application since that time. The planned facility is a first-of-its-kind depleted uranium de-conversion facility and the first source material facility to implement full-integrated safety analysis, consistent with requirements of Part 70, Subpart H of NRC regulations. The facility will also be the first source material facility to be licensed by the NRC for a forty-year license term.
The Company plans to use a two-step de-conversion process that combines a well-known technology with the Company’s demonstrated and proprietary Fluorine Extraction Process, or “FEP”. The Company intends for the project to be a “green, environmentally friendly” production facility that will focus upon extraction of fluorine during the de-conversion process to produce numerous high-value and commercially important fluoride products that are used by a variety of companies to manufacture products for the solar, microelectronics, and petrochemical markets.
Steve T. Laflin, President and CEO of the Company commented, “We are very pleased and gratified to have successfully completed the NRC license process for our planned facility. There was a tremendous amount of work required to complete this license process and I give special recognition to our Regulatory Manager, Mr. John Miller, and the Advanced Process Technology Systems team led by Mr. Jim Thomas, for their hard work and expertise in dealing with the myriad of issues addressed and efficiently resolved during this license process. I would also once again like to recognize the NRC staff for their excellent coordination and communication with the Company throughout the license review process and their timely review of the license application. The receipt of the NRC license has long been identified by the Company as a prerequisite for entering any serious negotiations for project financing.”
About: International Isotopes Inc. manufactures a full range of nuclear medicine calibration and reference standards, high purity fluoride gases, and a variety of cobalt-60 products such as teletherapy sources. The Company also provides a wide selection of radioisotopes and radiochemicals for medical devices, calibration, clinical research, life sciences,and industrial applications and provides a host of analytical, measurement, recycling, and processing services on a contract basis to clients
For more information, please visit the Company web site: www.internationalisotopes.com